


Life

by AzuraJae



Series: My Life Belongs to You [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluffy, Gen, M/M, Post Season 6, SHEITH - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 00:29:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14988833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzuraJae/pseuds/AzuraJae
Summary: In which it is revealed that Kaltenecker has a little hooved surprise for the Paladins of Voltron. And Keith learns something new from his mother about a certain way Galras show their bond.





	Life

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this some-what sequel to one of my other fics. I decided to make this a continuation of the other fic as a one shot. You don't really need to read the other fic I wrote, but it kinda helps establish where Krolia stands in terms of a certain relationship with her son.

It had been a few months since the journey to Earth began.

The traveling have been slow going. They didn’t have the Castle of Lions to quickly port to Earth. They had to travel almost the entire Galaxy just to get to their Solar System. But the journey there proved quite peaceful,relinquishing the paladins with a well-deserved vacation.

“Hey, can someone help me get Kaltenecker outta the Red Lion?” asked Lance to the group. They had landed on a hospitable green planet, filled with luscious plants. They had touched down to rest for a couple days before continuing on.

“Sure, I’ll help.” Hunk volunteered. “We also get some milk for breakfast while we’re at it.”

“Keith and I will go get some fresh water.” said Shiro, reaching down to grab an empty water vat.

Before he could grab it with his one arm, Keith swooped in and grabbed the two vats and started walking towards the river.

“Keith, wait! Let me carry one!” Shiro called out, a bit exasperated. Keith’s cosmic wolf wagged his tail and trotted after the two. Krolia watched them fondly from afar from where she had gotten out of the Black Lion.

Coran and Romelle were currently inventorying their supplies across all the lions. Coran patted a crate full of food and looked at the others.”

Pidge sprawled out on the grass, stretching her limbs. “Man, I don’t think I’ve touched grass in decaphebes.”

“Tell me about it.” her brother said, crouching down next to her, soaking in the scenery. Matt ruffled a few strands of grass. “Weird how we’re so far away from home, yet grass can exist both here and there.”

Before Pidge could answer, Lance practically rolled out of the Red Lion, tripping over the dents in the Lion’s mouth. His arrival startled those around their chosen campsite.

“Lance?” Allura came over to Lance’s side. “Are you alright?”

Lance quickly hopped on his feet, his face looking deathly grim. “Something’s wrong with Kaltenecker.”

“What?!” Pidge said, suddenly growing more alert.

“Kaltenecker?” Matt looked a bit confused, but concerned. “You mean the cow?”

Hunk appeared behind him, looking just as worried. “I don’t know. We went to her and she was just laying on her side and making these awful cow noises.” Hunk looked around. “Does anyone here know the nearest cow doctor?”

“I’ll take a look.” Pidge hopped on her feet and rushed towards the Red Lion. Matt and Krolia, who seemed interested by the situation, followed close behind.

Sure enough, Kaltenecker, their beloved cow, was lying on her side. The bovine was heaving heavily and she looked like she was in terrible pain. She lifted her head a little when they all came in, but closed her eyes and rested her head back on the ground.

“I just don’t know what’s wrong.” Lance said, kneeling by her side and petting her head. “She was just fine yesterday…”

Pidge went over to her face and took out a small gadget. She proceeded to scan her vitals. “It all looks normal here…” She adjusted her glasses and went over to Kaltenecker’s belly. “Oh no…”

“What? What is it?!” asked Hunk, clutching Matt’s shoulder. “Is she going to be okay? Don’t tell me she’ll…”

The green paladin turned to look at them with a grim look on her face, her eyes hidden by the reflection of the light in her glasses. She adjusted her glasses again. “She’s pregnant.”

“ _Pregnant!?”_ exclaimed Lance. “What do you mean ' _pregnant’_?!”

Pidge stood up, clutching her gadget in one of her hands. “Pregnant, Lance. It means she’s going to have a baby. In fact, she should be having it in about 15 to 20 dobashes.”

“Wait, is she going to have it _now_?” Hunk suddenly looked extremely nervous. “Don’t we gotta get like hot water or something?”

Matt pressed his lips together. “Cows have different birthing procedures than humans, don’t they?” he brought a hand to his chin, closing his eyes to think. “We don’t learn this stuff in the Garrison."

"Now that I think about it, makes sense that she is pregnant." Pidge continued. "She has been giving us milk after all. We just never made the connection. She must have been in the early stages of pregnancy when we got her."

"Who cares about that now?" Lance hovered his cow worriedly.  "What we should be worried about is what we are going to do  _now."_

“What’s going on?” A new voice asked. The others turned to see Shiro and Keith, who had returned from water fetching and came to see the commotion. “I heard Kaltenecker was sick?”

“She’s not sick, pregnant.” Pidge told them. “She’s going to give birth soon to a calf so we’re figuring out what to do.”

Keith’s eyes widened and his eyes darted to Kaltenecker and then at the others. He lifted up his hands. “Uh, this isn’t my sort of thing…” He took a step backward. “I think I’m just going to wait outside…”

He was about to turn around when suddenly, Lance jumped on his feet and punched his hand into his palm. “That’s it!” He leapt at Krolia, grabbing her arm. “Mrs. Keith Krolia, you gave birth to Keith, right? Don’t you have experience with the whole birthing thing?”

Hearing this, Keith tripped, but he managed to catch himself before face planting on the ground. “Tell me when this is all over.” And with that, Keith completely left the scene. Shiro looked at Keith leave then looked at Lance.

“Lance...” Shiro reached over to touch Lance on the shoulder. “A human--er.. Galra hybrid and a cow birth is two very different things, I’m sure Pidge-”

“I can do it.” Krolia announced, walking towards Kaltenecker. “I don’t really know what cows really are or how they work, but I get an idea of how it’s going to work.”

“Oh, thank you!” Lance and Hunk exclaimed, hugging Krolia.

She awkwardly smiled as they let her go. She knelt beside Kaltenecker, petting the cow gently on the head. For some reason, Krolia felt some sort of kinship with the animal, even though she hasn’t really interacted with it at all. It reminded her of something in the past and she smiled.

“I’ll need some help.” Krolia said, turning to the others.

“I can help.” Romelle said. “I’ve helped some of the colony folk give birth sometimes, I’ll do my best to help deliver Kaltenecker’s baby.”

“As can I.” Allura added, though she looked a bit squeamish. But she seemed determined to help. “Just let us know what to do.”

“I’ll stay here and monitor her vitals.” She said, taking out her laptop. “I’ll let you know if anything goes wrong. There’s a 93.1% chance of of the birth being a success, a 4% chance of the calf dying after birth, and a 2.9% chance that the calf will be born-”

“Stop with the statistics! Kaltenecker will be _fine_!” Lance turned to Krolia. “What can we do?”

* * *

 

-~*~-

* * *

 

Lance was crouching on the ground outside the Red Lion, holding his head in his hands. Beside him, Pidge was typing away on the computer.

“Are you going to go see the baby?” Pidge asked with a smirk. “Or are you going to faint like an old lady again?”

Grimacing, Lance shot Pidge a look, who grinned mischievously. Beside her, Matt chuckled. Without answering, Lance got up and trudged up the mouth of the Red Lion, ignoring the two laughing siblings.

As Lance entered, Krolia exited with a tired look on her face. She spotted Keith leaning against the Black Lion who was parked nearby. He looked a bit lost, considering most of the gang was gushing over the newborn baby calf, even Shiro.

“Keith.” she announced, causing her son to look up at her. “Don’t you want to see Kaltenecker’s baby?”

“I said it before.” Keith replied. “I’m not really..that good around that kind of stuff.” Krolia figured that Keith wouldn’t be too cheery about babies, let alone baby animals.

She came over and sat beside him. “You know, seeing that newborn baby calf reminded me of when I first saw you.”

Hearing this, Keith looked at her with a certain sadness in his eyes.

Krolia continued. “You were so small, so precious, I wanted to hold you in my arms forever.” Krolia looked up at him. “Look at you now. I don’t think I’ve ever been more prouder of what a man you’ve become.”

Not sure what to say, Keith looked at the ground, pursing his lips together. He looked like he didn’t want to continue the conversation, but surprisingly he did. “I know. I saw in your memories.”

The two didn’t pick up the conversation for a while after that. They just sat in silence as the night began to fall. The light from the Red Lion bathed the area in a warm glow of light. Sounds of laughter emanated from within.

“Mom.” Keith finally said, after a long break. “Can...can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.” she answered.

“How did you know... Dad was the one for you?”

Krolia was a bit taken aback by his question. She didn’t see this kind of question coming, but then again, she recalled the recent development between Keith and a certain friend of his and she smiled.

“I knew it.” She said, her eyes softening as he remembered his face. “Your father also knew it. We both knew that we were meant for each other.” She looked at Keith curiously.

Keith looked a bit nervous. “How did you guys...tell each other that you knew?” Keith asked. “I...I didn’t see that part in your memories.”

There was a spark of excitement deep down in Krolia’s heart as she realized what was happening. Ever since she left Earth, she had lost the hope that she would ever get to teach her son the Galra way of engagement. Personally, she had hoped _he_ could have taught Keith the ways of the people of Earth in that department, but Keith was more like her than they both had realized.

She stood up, facing Keith, who suddenly looked a bit intimidated. “Give me your blade.” Krolia said, extending her hand. Keith obediently handed her the blade.

Krolia picked up the blade from his hand and turned it over once, recalling the time she had did this once with him, but she shook her head. She grabbed the knife by the blade and seemed to offer Keith the handle. Keith looked a little confused and looked up at Krolia.

“The Galra always declared their attachment to others by offering the hilt of the blade.” She said. “Offering the hilt means you’re offering your life to your other. When you do this, it means that your life is in their hands.” She turned the blade around and gave it back to Keith. “It’s the ultimate form of love and respect among the Galra.”

Keith held the blade curiously in his hands, glancing at his mother. He looked like he was about to try hold his knife by the blade when suddenly, Shiro seemed to appear by his side.

“Hey, Keith.” The man announced and Keith literally threw up his knife in the air, though managed to catch it. He looked at Shiro with a distressed look at his face, then at his mother, who gave a shrug. Shiro looked a bit confused by Keith’s reaction. “Aren’t you going to go see the baby? Lance and the others are deciding a name, I thought you should participate.”

“H-how much did you hear?” Keith looked at Shiro seriously, clutching his knife.

Shiro blinked once. “Hear what?”

“Alright then. Nevermind. Let’s just go see the baby cow.” The young man grabbed Shiro by his remaining arm and nearly pulled him towards the Red Lion.

Krolia watched the two enter the Red Lion together and she sighed happily, leaning against the Black Lion. There was happiness in her heart, though there was a pressing feeling as well. She didn’t really anticipate that Keith and his friend would be progressing this well, but from Keith’s memories, this Shiro person was someone _very_ precious to him.

“Keith, I hope you may find happiness in your life with him.” Krolia smiled to herself, closing her eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> My friends and I were joking around once about Kaltenecker when we realized that Kaltenecker produced milk...which meant that she was pregnant? Supposedly? So I this fic kinda spawned from that and I saw an opportunity to further develop Sheith post season 6.
> 
> Also, congrats to anyone who recognized the Avatar: The Last Airbender reference in this fic :D Kudos to you 
> 
> There will be one more oneshot fic after this that I will be posting sometime in the near future. You don't really have to read it, since it's sort of disconnected from this fic except for the final part.


End file.
